Disclaimer: I don't own Eureka seveN

After Affect

Ch 1: Life on a Half-Full Tank

Life has slowed down. This whole life in this town is a chemical reaction of slow. Once you set one foot in this place…then your life is going to become boring and each day it will keep on going slower, with every minute that passes.

I lay on the porch on the small, sad, shabby house next to the Thurston Garage. We were in a different location now, since the original Thurston Garage had been blown to pieces. I don't know why, but it was bigger than the original, it was big enough for Grandpa to live in, just like the last Garage

I guess you could say my room was now a little house. I bet grandpa had thoughts of me coming back with company, and so he built a fair sized house. Three rooms, a small Kitchen, living room and one bathroom. One bathroom: For five people…That's not good. But we don't have air conditioning or a heater. Thank goodness it's fall…

At least life isn't as boring. Now I had Eureka and the kids and so at least they kept me happy through out the day. I'm only fifteen and I have so much and yet when I was fourteen, I almost had nothing, that's why I wanted adventure and to go and join the Gekko State.

I don't know why, but ever since I moved back in with Grandpa, I feel like some thing is missing, but I'm not entirely sure what. I mean, Eureka and I had only gotten back a week ago and the kids had been there a few months or more before us. Maybe I'm just readjusting to my old life?

I don't know about Eureka and the kids, but some thing is definitely wrong here. Like, a chunk of some thing we once had was missing, we still had our love and friendship, but some thing else had detached itself.

My eyes were drawn away from the sky and onto a green haired girl with brilliant purple eyes and gel like wings, who stood above me, staring down at me in curiosity.

"Oh, Eureka, sorry, I was just laying here thinking." I replied.

She had a frown on her face, not really explaining any emotion, either sadness or boredom. She never showed that emotion too much any more; maybe we were having the same feeling. Or maybe it was because we were connected. I'm not sure why…Maybe it's the moon in the sky that has our initials engraved in it. Or maybe it was from our encounter with the Coralian.

She sat down next to me, or next to my head and just stared out at the sunset in front of us. "It's beautiful here." She said softly.

"Really?" I asked in curiosity. I thought Bell Forest was ugly and reeking of pollution; though where we were wasn't really polluted, it still had an ugly old garage next to it. Maybe it was because Eureka really never had much of a land home, a place you can actually place your feet on and say that you're standing strong. To her, this was as beautiful as it could get. She had every thing she's ever wanted, or at least all that I know of; children, a boyfriend, a home, my grandpa, who was tickled pink to have her and his "Great" grandchildren. Grandpa always has to emphasize on the 'great' part of great grandkids.

But I felt like there was still some thing missing, some thing both I and Eureka were missing, who knows, maybe the kids are missing it too. Maeter and Linck seem to be happy here, Maurice seems to be content. So what was wrong with us?

"I never thought this place was that great." I replied, I was wondering how she would reply.

She remained silent for a moment and then replied, "How can you not admire this place?" Her voice now contained a little bit more emotion along the lines of astonishment.

"I don't know, it's boring, it's polluted, its…feels like every day goes by too slow." I said slowly, I really didn't care much for the place we were living in, the house was okay, small, but fine, but the rest is just terrible. But I guess if this place hadn't driven me crazy, then, I may never have met Eureka.

"But it's your home." She pleaded. She looked at me with curiosity, that face always made me coo mentally, or gulp, nervously. I thought for a moment, home was where the people you loved were. And true, that I have that now but, that empty feeling is what's messing me up right now. I realize not every one I care about is with me right now. Those people were left on the Gekko…The Gekko…That's it! Life with the Gekko State was part of what was missing, but that was only one piece of the puzzle. So what was the other part?

"Well, it may be a home, but a home is a place where the people you love are. And while I do have that here, a lot of the other people I care about are some where up in the sky." I said calmly. I felt like I rushed it a little bit, but some times, talking to her made me do that.

She nodded silently. I don't guess their really was a perfect reply to what I had just said, I didn't have to ask, I knew Eureka was missing them too.

"Mama!" I heard a yell; we both looked over to our left to see the children running in our direction, Maurice was holding some thing his hands, and they all looked excited.

They stopped about two feet away from up and revealed what Maurice had held in his hand. I was a little surprised, because, never in my years of living in this town, had I seen what they had showed me: a turtle. It was a small box turtle, his head poked in his shell and his arms and legs were tucked in tight. There wasn't any type of environment around for miles that could support a turtle. Even in this new place that we had moved into didn't have the correct environment for the box turtle or for any kind of turtle for that matter.

Eureka's face lit up at the site of the little turtle. I don't even know if she's ever seen one before. Surely she had, she was fascinated by all animals.

"Wow, where did you guys find this little guy?" I asked with a smile, as I leaned forward to get a closer look at the animal.

"We found it in the back yard!" Linck exclaimed proudly.

"Yeah, it was crawling around in a patch of grass." Maeter added, with a smile.

It just seemed odd to me that they were able to find a turtle out in the middle of nowhere. Maybe a lot more had changed than I had thought, since I left.

"It's adorable, kids." Eureka said softly, a smile to match her tone. The turtle slowly and cautiously poked its head out of its shell, wondering if it was really safe to look around at its surroundings in public.

"Renton, Eureka, kids" I heard a voice; an old voice that I hadn't heard in over a year until a week ago. Grandpa, "Dinner's almost ready, come on, its time to go inside." He looked a little stern, probably because he had had a rough day. He went back inside, leaving us alone again. Grandpa still treats me the same for the most part. But Grandpa treats the kids like they're the greatest things on this Earth; which they are in my world. And as for Eureka, he loved Eureka a lot too. After all, she was the mother of the kids long before I was their father. And if she hadn't adopted those kids in the first place, then Gramps wouldn't be a Great Grandpa; though he was equally surprised when Holland had sent the kids over to Grandpa, saying that they were my kids.

As I said, he was still rough with me; a little rougher than normal, than before I had left. I had always thought it was because he had to play as my parent after my sister left. But now I think he treats me a little rougher because I ran off and joined the Gekko State. Of course I wouldn't know, I would never ask, I would just leave it as is.

Dinner was quiet. The kids would pass words in between each other, but nothing else. Though I noticed that Grandpa had a grumpy face on, more grumpy than normal, I felt like addressing it, but I was a little afraid that I might be apart of the problem. But I thought "Take a jump for it." So I did, "So what's wrong, you look a little mad?" I asked, looking up from my plate at him.

He looked up with the same look on his face. I was glad the kids didn't see, they might not like that face too well, and honestly, I didn't like it either.

Eureka had glanced up, but quickly looked back down as she saw the expression on his face.

"Some one brought in a junked up LFO and it's going to take a long time to fix and a lot of work." He snarled.

"How long would it take to fix, do you think?" I asked.

"A month," He guessed simply, "I really don't know, it's so mangled, and it could take two months." He wagered.

I nodded, though I began to wonder, how could an LFO get so mangled to where it had to go through a month or more of repairs? "How did it get damaged so badly?"

Grandpa was silent for a second, but after he swallowed his food he spoke, "five military KLF's took a hitting to it and then when it crashed, it crashed head first into the ground, if that wasn't bad enough the pilot died and got blood all over the seats, and since it wasn't addressed right away; mind you it's been sitting where it was for a year, thus far, there was enough time for some hoodlums to graphiti all over it." He answered. He looked back down, still grumpy.

I saw that Eureka was staring down at her food, a little disturbed. "Why would some one do that to an LFO?" She asked, while lifting her head up.

"For obvious reasons, the driver was probably wreaking havoc and got in trouble with the military." Grandpa shrugged.

I could tell her expression never changed, she knew that was the way an LFO lived its life, to fight. And this one, as she heard, had done its job, even if it was for the wrong purposes. She was sensitive to machinery, and I kind of was too, Grandpa could be too, but out of all of us, Eureka was the most gentle towards machinery.

The kids remained silent, looking at Grandpa and their mama. I wasn't sure if they knew what was going on or what we were talking about, but they knew some thing was wrong.

Time to go to bed and Eureka and I were getting the kids ready for bed in the house that used to be my room. I missed my room. I miss all of my posters, belongings, and all of the space I had. I used to think that my room had been small, before that night Eureka had crashed down on it. But now, compared to my new room, it was a mansion.

The kids all shared a room and Eureka and I had our own rooms.

I was standing in the bathroom doorway making sure the boys brushed their teeth. They had a nasty habit or bailing on brushing their teeth and so Eureka and I always had to watch them to make sure they took good care of their teeth.

I was starting to become impatient, I was ready to go to bed and they were taking a little bit longer than normal.

Finally Maurice put his tooth brush down, "Goodnight Renton." He said simply. They never really called me papa that much, they were used to calling me Renton. I am their legal father and there are papers to prove it, but still, I'm not sure if them calling me papa felt all comfortable to me either; fifteen and already I have three kids, that's kind of scary.

Eventually Linck finished and went to bed. Finally! I was ready to go to bed, I didn't do that much today and yet I was exhausted.

I still have that empty feeling in my chest; like that piece was still lost. I would feel better if I at least knew what it was that was gone. I only knew that I missed Gekko State. And that my life was sort of replaying itself a little. Only I had more to live for.

"Geez, life is just too confusing." I mutter to myself as I was about to walk into my room. I could hear Eureka in the kid's room a few feet away from my room; she came out after a minute and closed the door. I could tell by looking at her, she was as tired as I was. But she had a frown on her face, like she was sulking a little.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine; I'm just tired is all." She answer, her wings folded down a little as she said it. She grabbed her left arm that normally meant she felt insecure.

I had a feeling home sick was apart of it, but I think the news of the LFO was bothering her the most.

She was silent for a moment and then she looked up at me with a pleading expression, "Please, Renton, can we go see that LFO before we go to bed?"

I thought about it, and I was kind of curious too. I wanted to know exactly how bad it looked; even I could fix an LFO to some extent. "Yeah, sure."

We walked out of the house and walked into the Thurston Garage, where the beaten LFO was resting. The moon glanced in through the large windows so it could get a better view of the rustic insides of the garage.

We both gasped and looked at it in awe. It was terrible. Blood covered the head from the driver's injuries. It was covered in large dents, parts ripped off and the lift board was shoved through its chest; it was amazing that it could still stand.

The LFO was black on the head and back with white on the chin and front of its body, with a little green on the feet. The LFO had coal black eyes; I had never seen black eyes on an LFO before. It had a bulky exterior to it, like a KLF, only taller and not as expressionless; plus KLF's only have one eye. This LFO had two eyes. In a way it reminded me of the Nirvash. Mainly because of the intense expression it held on its face.

"Wow." I said sadly.

Eureka walked over to it and stared at her reflection in it for a second. Then she put her left hand on it and held it there for a few seconds. I could tell she was trying to understand what it was saying to her.

She suddenly pulled her hand away with a gasp and her face went from shock to saddened, "He says…He's in pain." She informed holding her hand.

I walked over to her and grabbed the same hand that had touched the LFO.

"Don't worry; I'm sure he'll be okay." I assured her with a little smile.

"Here." She ordered. I didn't even get a chance to protest; she just grabbed my wrist and held it while the palm of my hand rested on the cold metal.

"Do you feel it?" She asked me.

I don't know if I was feeling the same thing she was feeling, but right then… I felt like, that maybe, this LFO…was as empty as we were…


Let me just say this is my first Eureka seven fanfiction and I feel pretty pleased with it. I'm sure this plot may have been used already, but I plan for this story to be extremely long, so don't nag me to update too much, since I have a life. XD And please, don't complain about me saying Eureka's hair is green, because to me it looks green. And yes, I guess you could call me "Anime hair-color blind" Because I have that problem a lot. R&R